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Border hassle claims another victim

By Meg Olson

Getting out of the hospital is not the end of the road to recovery. Most patients’ doctors prescribe further care, from physical therapy to drug infusions. In the rest of Whatcom County, Option Care provides takes those services to the homes of patients who can’t get to a clinic. Since December, homebound patients in Point Roberts no longer have that service available, after the Option Care board decided they couldn’t provide the service if it meant crossing the border four times.

“The ethical thing for us to say is we can’t do it because we can’t promise to be there at a certain time,” said Option Care account manager Ken Parker. “We just can’t serve those patients, not because we don’t want to.” Parker said the decision was made because border lineups prevented home health care providers from getting to and from appointments in Point Roberts. “We’d say we’ll be there in three days and then not be able to for a week,” he said.

With limited resources the company can’t afford to have a physical therapist sitting in line at the border for two hours, and it would mean they weren’t available for patients during that time.

Local resident Shelley Damewood found out Point Roberts was cut off from the county’s only certified home health care provider the day she was taking her mother home from a Bellingham extended care facility where she was recovering from hip surgery.

“The condition for her release was physical therapy twice a week and I had already made arrangements with them,” she said. The Option Care board decided to honor their prior arrangements with Damewood, “but they said she’s the last one in Point Roberts.”

Damewood said she doesn’t think Option Care should be able to opt out of serving the Point. “I understand what they’re saying. A trip to Point Roberts is a big chunk of time, but my feeling is, if they’re Medicare certified and Medicare is paying for this, they should provide the service.”

Parker said the company was looking into finding service providers on the Point they could contract with so they could start serving the community again. ‘We have been discussing the possibility of finding clinicians there who could do infusions and home health care,” he said, adding the establishment of a medical clinic would be a significant step towards solving the problem.

In the meantime, Damewood said her mother’s doctor had suggested more physical therapy so she could manage stairs, and Option Care said no. Without taking time off work, Damewood can’t get her there, so she’s going without and working on exercises with a helper Damewood has hired.
“What I really worry about is people who don’t have family. What do they do?” she said. “In terms of economic development, if you’re trying to promote the Point and attract people in retirement, what does this say? It’s just another reason not to live here.”

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